Workers make Zara jackets at a garment factory in Bac Giang Province, near Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham

More than one million Vietnamese were unemployed last year, including many college graduates.

Vietnam’s labor ministry is outlining a new plan to send more skilled workers abroad in the next few years as the number of unemployed Vietnamese has surpassed the million mark.

According to Deputy Minister Doan Mau Nghiep, the plan will focus on sending engineers to South Korea and health workers to Japan and Germany and also exploring new markets like Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Israel.

“The ministry wants to find solutions for well-trained workers, who have graduated from universities or colleges but can’t find jobs,” he said. “But we have to assess whether the quality of our labor force meet the requirements of recipient countries.”

According to official data, Vietnam had around 1.1 million unemployed workers, 2.3 percent of the workforce. Around one third were college graduates.

Experts have said that the quality of Vietnamese labor force is generally low compared to Asian peers such as South Korea, India and Malaysia.